Letters
Let Cayman's Captains Decide
Dear Sir:
In the late 80's/early 90's Cayman Airwayswas operating 3 planes. In 1992, a new Government was electedand they immediately decided to downsize the Airlines by reducingit to 2 planes only, blaming the past Government for having toomany planes.
About 2 years ago the same Minister forAviation that downsized the Airline finally decided that theyneeded a third plane and they proceeded to purchase one. Theyinspected several planes including a 25-year-old plane in theSaudi Arabia area.
I was told that their Chief Pilot, theirSenior Pilot and other pilots advised the Government not to purchasethat plane but the Minister went against their advice and allegedlytook advice from one of their past foreign managers and the purchasewas concluded.
They paid several million dollars for theplane and flew it down to Central America for refurbishing andby the time it was ready to fly I was told that a total of $11or $12 Million dollars was tied up in this 25-year-old plane thathas over head luggage compartments that cannot accommodate muchmore than a brief case. I must say, the last Government made amuch bigger mess than any other previous Government and it appearsto me that the present Government might be following down thesame pathway.
The present Government made one right moveby hiring an accountant to make a study of the figures for CaymanAirways and I have been told that the figures reveal a loss of$15.3 Million dollars for last year, this is appalling.
Available on Grand Cayman are experiencedairline pilots such as Capt. Joe Mahmood, Capt. Churchhill Bodden,Capt. Kennedy Panton, Capt. Kel Thompsong, Capt. Bing Thompsonand a number of others who I feel sure, would have been glad toadvise the Government on the types of aircraft that might be moresuitable for the operation.
However, rumors have it that they have requestedthe accountant to give them information and recommendations asto the type of aircraft they should be looking at; what a sadstate of affair. Undoubtedly the accountant is qualified in accountingbut having no knowledge of the appropriate aircraft for a particularpurpose. It is said that the 3 aircrafts they now operate, allhave different model cockpits and spare parts for one cannot fitthe other; what wise decision have been made.
It is said that it is being recommendedthat Cayman Airways turn in the 3 jets that they have now at atrade in price of $12 Million dollars for the 3 and either purchaseor lease two 100-seat jets for the Miami/Jamaica run and a 32-seatjet for the Cayman Brac run, how ludicrous.
The flying time from Grand Cayman to CaymanBrac by jet is about 18 minutes and if the accountant can showthem that operating a jet service on such a short flight is economicalthen he is smarter than all the other large airline personnel.
For instance, from Miami to Tampa and tomany other Florida cities, the services are by prop plane as thedistances are too short and not economical for jets. None of theshort routes from city to city are serviced by jets and we wouldbe stupid to believe that a jet service to Cayman Brac is feasible.
Cayman Airways should be closed down andleave the Brac service to Island Air and save $15 Million dollarsa year BECAUSE WE NEED IT to cover some of the $55 Million dollarswe are now borrowing. We are crazy, together with the politicians,if we believe that a jet service between Grand Cayman and CaymanBrac can pay and I believe that Cayman Brac is the only placeon earth with approximately 1000 people that has a jet service.
Following on what has been said above, thepresent Government is not doing much better than the Governmentthey replaced and the people that voted them in are becoming disillusionedand disappointed with their actions.
The actions of the last Government haveleft us in a dreadful state of affair financially. The OECD issuesare playing havoc with the financial industry and the US recessionhas trickled down here and we are in a real mess with very littlehopes of recovering.
Having no sewage in the City of George Townis an accident waiting to happen; just look out in the HogstyBay area in the morning and you will see what I am talking about.The $15 Million dollars loss by Cayman Airways could go far inproviding high-grade city sewage disposal.
Government is paying some $4 to $5 Million-dollarrent for office space and two years rent would construct a largeoffice block for Government and avoid that rental expense. Butthe Government needs business people to make that kind of decision.
In 1992, when the last Government was electedwe had about 1850 civil servants and I am told that by the timethey were kicked out, that figure had just about doubled. If wedo not get a grip on this country in more ways than one, then,we are headed for absolute destruction.
Joe Contie